The Democratic Republic of Congo said there has been one death from Ebola after a new outbreak was declared Tuesday.
Health Minister Oly Ilunga confirmed that one nurse had died overnight from Ebola and that nine other people, who fell ill with a hemorrhagic fever, were suspected to have the deadly disease in the African country’s northwest region, according to a Associated Press report Thursday evening.
Officials, including those from the World Health Organization, are in the area to help contain the spread of the disease.
Earlier in the day, the AP reported the death, along with 11 active cases in Congo, but later the AP retracted two tweets about it, noting that nothing had been confirmed.
The news comes two years after the end of the worst Ebola outbreak in history of Ebola, and several others tested positive for the disease.
Last year, the northern part of Congo confronted its own Ebola outbreak, but the World Health Organization said it was effectively addressed through “the timely alert by local authorities of suspected cases, immediate testing of blood samples due to strengthened national laboratory capacity, the early announcement of the outbreak by the government, rapid response activities by local and national health authorities with the robust support of international partners, and speedy access to flexible funding.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that AP has confirmed that there has been an Ebola death in Congo.
